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HOST POPULATION STRUCTURE AND THE EVOLUTION OF VIRULENCE: A “LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURNS”
Author(s) -
Lipsitch Marc,
Herre Edward Allen,
Nowak Martin A.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1995.tb02310.x
Subject(s) - biology , host (biology) , virulence , population , evolutionary biology , genetics , demography , gene , sociology
Structure in a population of host individuals, whether spatial or temporal, can have important effects on the transmission and evolutionary dynamics of its pathogens. One of these is to limit dispersal of pathogens and thus increase the amount of contact between a given pair or within a small group of host individuals. We introduce a “law of diminishing returns” that predicts an evolutionary decline of pathogen virulence whenever there are on average more possibilities of pathogen transmission between the same pair of hosts. Thus, the effect of repeated contact between hosts will be to shift the balance of any trade‐off between virulence and transmissibility toward lower virulence.